Our communities showed their colors last week in remembrance of Camron Roberts, 18, who lost his life in a car accident on Monday, Aug. 7. Thousands of white and yellow balloons, chosen to represent healing and remembrance, were seen tethered across Washington County in a show of support for Camron’s family. Photo by Bill Kitchen

The Friends of the Whitneyville last week helped the Jacksonville Cemetery raise money for new fencing. The members of the Jacksonville Cemetery put on a baked beans and casserole public supper on August 5 that was held at the Elm Street School. Many turned out to raise money. It’s all about giving back and doing something to help where help is needed.

At a special town meeting held last Wednesday, Aug. 9, Machias residents voted 8-1 to adopt a local food sovereignty ordinance.

The ordinance makes it legal for home food producers to sell direct to consumers without government licensing or inspection. Machias Selectman Bill Kitchen said that the board moved quickly to adopt the ordinance in order to allow local producers to capture as much of the summer harvest and tourist seasons as possible.

For most of the year, the waterfalls that drop through the heart of downtown Machias are beneath the town’s notice, literally. Positioned below a bridge that spans the Machias River, the Bad Little Falls are difficult to glimpse from Main Street.

Medicare for all is a bipartisan effort gaining steam throughout Maine. Although the Downeast chapter of Maine AllCare is in Blue Hill, Downeast could achieve new meaning as the movement for universal healthcare inches eastward.

“We’re going to have a table at the Wild Blueberry Festival,” says Phil Caper, founding board member of Maine AllCare and for years a universal health care advocate. “Spreading the word is what it takes. This fight about health care is 100 years old. And I mean Teddy Roosevelt, not FDR.”

The historic Burnham Tavern Museum has a new look. After the Hannah Weston Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution received a bequest from a member, the late Elizabeth DeShon Tibbetts it was decided to purchase the former Machias Cleaners building, remove it and then develop a landscape plan for the area.

If you’ve been lucky enough to win one of the handmade quilts from past Blueberry Festivals, please consider lending it to be part of the festival’s display this Saturday, August 19. During the festival each year, as many quilts as possible are gathered and displayed in the sanctuary of Centre Street Congregational Church, United Church of Christ, in downtown Machias. The church is the home of the festival, now in its 42nd year.

Between June 1775 and 1777 the British were not happy with the “Pirates at Machias” or the “Hotbed of Rebels at Machias” and soon made plans to punish the settlers at Machias. On Aug. 13, four British ships under the command of Sir George Collier, came into Machias Bay with orders to launch an attack on the “Rebel Nest at Machias”.

On Tuesday, Aug. 22 at 7 p.m. Machias Bay Chamber Concerts (MBCC) will present a concert featuring fêted mezzo-soprano Thea Lobo and piano/pianoforte virtuoso Sylvia Berry. Their program will include Frauenliebe und -leben by Robert Schumann, as well as various Lieder by Schumann and Franz Schubert. This will be the final concert of MBCC’s 2017 Season.